Shiga Kogen Wheat Wine
A bottle of Shiga Kogen Wheat Wine from Tamamura-Honten in Nagano, Japan, at Håndverkerstuene in Oslo.
This beer is a 9% abv barley wine made with wheat! It poured a hazy orange color with a thin white head. Fresh fruity wheat aroma with notes of caramel and roasted malts. Flavor starts out with caramel malt, light citrus, then some bitter hops that lingers in the finish. The wheat made an interesting take on a barley wine, though the overall feeling was that this was a bit unbalanced (sweet start, bitter finish) to be a good beer. It may have been too old though, some fresh hops would have saved it.
Thanks to Nøgne Ø for importing this beer to Norway.